Lecture 20 - Skin Pathology

Question 1

Verrucae

Answer 1

• benign warty lesions of the skin caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV)

Question 2

Seborrheia Keratosis

Answer 2

• benign, round, flat, coin-like plaques on the skin microscopically consisting of hyperplasia of the epidermis and hyper-keratosis
• not associated with development of skin cancer

Question 3

Actinic Keratosis

Answer 3

• rough, sand-paper like lesions on the skin representing dysplastic, pre-cancerous (pre-malignant) changes which may develop to squamous cell carcinoma (cancer)

Question 4

Squamous cell carcinoma

Answer 4

• malignant epidermal tumor found on sun exposed areas of the body
• advanced cases may spread to regional lymph nodes

Question 5

Basal cell carcinoma

Answer 5

• most common human cancer
• malignant epidermal tumor found on sun exposed areas of the body
• rarely (if ever) metastasizes to distant organs or lymph nodes

Question 6

Melanocytic nevus

Answer 6

• benign congenital or acquired neoplasm of melanocytes (mole)

Question 7

Dysplastic nevus

Answer 7

• melanocytic nevus occuring on both sun-exposed and non-sun exposed areas of th body showing pre-malignant features
• sporadic (non-inherited) lesions rarely associated with progression to melanoma
• inherited forms may progress to melanoma

Question 8

Melanoma

Answer 8

• malignancy of melanocytes
• advances lesions capable of spreading to regional lymph nodes and distant sites
• key factor to prognosis is vertical growth (depth) of lesion

Question 9

Warning signs of Melanoma (vs. Nevus)

- ABC’s

Answer 9

A. Asymmetry - melanomas more likely to be non-symmetric; nevi symmetric
B. Borders - melanomas more likely to have notched irregular borders; nevi have round boarders
C. Color - melanomas more likely to be variegated; nevi are often more uniform
D. Diameter - melanomas less likely to be smaller than 4 mm
E. Evolution - change in moles can be a danger sign